Golf is Awesome, Vol. 165: Ben Griffin

Stardom is funny. It not only takes God-given talent, but a protracted list of intangibles. Confidence, swagger, if it’s a team sport, leadership. When players start to rise, when the top grows on the horizon, they’re engulfed by an intoxicating, hypnotic cloud that then leaches into the mind of the fanbase. Now, most of the time, you can see it coming. There are signs of an eventual championship-filled resume.

But sometimes there aren’t.

Sometimes it comes out of nowhere. And sometimes, even as ridiculous as it may seem and perhaps solely digestible by golf fans, it emerges from a cubicle of a mortgage loan office.

If you’ve ever seen a golf broadcast—seriously, ANY golf broadcast—I’m sure you’re familiar with the story. Ben Griffin, beaten and bruised by a strident stretch on the Korn Ferry Tour and smaller leagues, buried his clubs in storage and got a job as a mortgage loan officer in 2021. But after a 63 in a friend’s Member Guest and financial support from several buddies, Griffin went back on the road, back to the grind, and eventually earned a PGA TOUR card for the 2023 season.

That year, Griffin took full advantage of his membership and made 37(!!) starts. He earned weekend tee times 25 times, finished inside the top 25 on 12 occasions, and nearly won twice. Oh, and he pocketed close to $3 million. And the following season was a lot of the same. Thirty-five starts, 13 top-25 finishes, a silver medal at the RBC Canadian Open, and another $3.5 million made out to Mr. Griffin.

Commendable for a guy who opted for a calculator instead of clubs two years prior? Absolutely. Promise of a profitable career? No question. But as any athlete knows, at the highest level, greatness, or to bring us back to the beginning, stardom, is the result of a slogan synonymous with one Carlos Estevez: winning.

The years of dedication, the painstaking days spent perfecting their craft, all that hard work is for hardware—please ignore the fact that that sounded more suitable for a Nike graphic t-shirt, you get the point.

So when Griffin, a player with near misses in the not-too-distant past, partnered with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April, people noticed. Now, was he getting recognized in the grocery store and taking selfies at the gas station? I doubt it. But his name was suddenly the talk of 19th holes around the country.

Seven days later, however, the conversation began to change.

On Sunday at Jack’s Place, Griffin walked off the 18th green of Muirfield Village with a solo-second finish, falling to only Scottie Scheffler. What made this four-day run of contention different than the others? He did it with the big boys on property.

For the rest of the summer, Griffin pitched a tent and camped at the top of nearly every leaderboard. T-10 at the U.S. Open, T-14 at the Travelers, T-9 at the FedEx St. Jude. In all, over his last 12 starts of the season, Griffin finished T-14 or better 10 times, including a share of 10th at the TOUR Championship. And it all resulted in an eventual call from Keegan Bradley.

Even at Team USA’s tune-up event, the Procore Championship, Griffin got in the mix. He finished solo-second, and I’ll give you one guess as to who chased him down and beat him by a shot—the guy’s Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet, man. And in just his second start since going 1-1-0 at Bethpage Black—he tied for 32nd at the DP World India Championship—Griffin traveled south of the border to Mexico and won. Again.

Now with three wins on the season to go along with his red, white, and blue wardrobe, Griffin is no longer a niche name destined to be a great answer on Immaculate Grid in a decade. The now 29-year-old from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is carving his name at the top of the world ranking.

Griffin’s story, his tale from the last five-six years, is just the most recent reminder of how awesome this game is. Show me another sport where a numbers-crunching, non-ironically-Aviator-sunglasses-wearing, creatine overdoser can, within months, put their name alongside all-time greats in the rankings.

I can wait. I got nothing but time.

Griffin, with his win at the World Wide Technology Championship, is now the ninth-ranked player in the world. Four years ago, this guy was focused on locking in 15- and 30-year rates. Now, he’s on the game’s first page alongside Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, and Justin Rose. His story might be overplayed, but that doesn’t take anything away from how truly insane it is.

For a somewhat unassuming guy, Griffin has built a foundation for stardom. A couple more wins and that hypnotic cloud might start to disperse. Hell, he’s already got a fan in me.